My Destiny
by Feather Dream
Summary: ON HOLD: Harry, Ron and Hermione should be starting their seventh year at Hogwarts. But they're not, they are going to find and destroy Voldemort and his Horcruxes. Will they succeed? Will be HG & RHr.
1. Back to the Dursleys!

**Disclaimer - I don't own Harry Potter, just the little people inside my mind :P**

**Chapter One – Back to the Dursleys**

Harry turned around and looked back at the Hogwarts Express. Students were still piling out of the doors, eager to be re-united with their families. The shock of Dumbledores' death was still fresh in the mind of everyone. Harry wished that he would be able to get back on the train on September the first, but he knew that he won't be, he couldn't. It was uncertain still, if the school would be re-opening, but Harry did know that he wouldn't be going back. He had to finish Dumbledores' work, and to fulfil his own destiny.

Harry headed towards the Weasleys. As he pushed his trunk, he glanced around and saw that there was a dozen Aurors placed around the platform. He shouldn't have been surprised by that, though, he did hope that there wouldn't be any trouble.

"Hello Mrs Weasley." He said as he joined the group. Mrs Weasley looked up from where she was checking that everyone had their luggage. She smiled at Harry and pulled him into a hug.

"Hello dear," she paused and straightened his collar. "Now, I want you to promise me that you will stay in contact. Don't say too much, just let us know that you're okay."

Harry smiled. "I promise"

The group started walking towards the barrier between Platform nine and three-quarters and the muggle world. Mrs Weasley went through first followed by Hermione and Ginny and then finally Harry and Ron. When Harry had passed through the wall he could see Hermiones' parents rushing towards them.

"- sorry, the traffic was horrible… then there was nowhere to park. Oh, it's so good to see you again sweetheart."

As Hermione was being embraced by her parents, Ron turned to Harry and whispered.

"You got any idea when you want to leave?"

Harry looked around as if checking to see if the coast was clear before replying in a hushed tone.

"I'm still not sure, there's the wedding to go to first. So, straight after that?"

Hermione came over to them then to say goodbye. She hugged them both and with a quick, "See you soon!" she was gone.

A large, beefy man with an oversized moustache cleared his throat,

"Boy! Get over here!"

"Goodbye Mrs Weasley. Ron, Ginny." Harry nodded to the Weasleys and with a sigh Harry turned around and started to follow his Uncle out of the station. He loaded his trunk into the boot and put Hedwig onto the backseat before he got into the car himself. He glanced back in time to see the Weasleys one last time before his Uncle drove away.

XxXxXxX

When they arrived at number four Privet Drive, Harry got out of the car and went to open the boot when a hand slammed down in front of him. Harry looked up to see his Uncles face, mere inches away from his own.

"I want to make one thing very clear to you boy! You're only here, because you have to be. When you leave, you're not coming back! Understand?"

Harry stared back at the face that had, for so many years, terrified him. He looked his Uncle in the eye as he said,

"Perfectly!"

Mr Dursley wasn't one to back down from a challenge, and he refused to look away, blink or show any sign of weakness.

"Whilst you're here, under my roof, I want you to stay out of our way. Stay in your room or go outside, I don't care. But I don't want to see you any more than I have to!"

Harry maintained the glare, feeling as though he wanted to see the Dursleys less than they wanted to see him.

"Fine by me!" He all but growled.

If Mr Dursley felt any emotion towards his nephew at that moment he didn't show it. Instead he looked away and went to put his key in the car door. He tapped his foot impatiently waiting for Harry to remove his trunk and Hedwig. When he had, Mr Dursley rushed up the drive and into the house, closing the door behind him. It was as though he thought that if he spent any more time with Harry then he would come out in a horrible rash.

Harry slowly walked up to the front door, his trunk in his right hand and Hedwig in his left. He pushed open the door and headed up the stairs without anyone else acknowledging him, for which he was thankful.

Opening Hedwigs' cage he watched as she left through the open window. He fell back onto his bed deep in thought. A feeling of helplessness rose from within him as he lay there. As it always did when he was at the Dursleys, yet this year it wasn't the same. This year it wasn't down to the adults to solve the problems. This year… it was down to him.

XxXxXxX

Harry had been at the Dursleys for a week. He'd spent most of it avoiding the Dursleys. At the moment he was staring into space as the glow from the streetlight outside filtered in through his open window. It was early in the morning, too early for the Dursley to be awake and the house was peaceful, except for the occasional snore that rumbled from Dudleys' room next door. Hedwig was off hunting so Harry was very much on his own. Surprisingly Harry hadn't received news from his best friends since he left the station. He had sent a letter to both of them yesterday morning and as of yet hadn't received a reply. Maybe he would receive news today.

As the repaired alarm clock on his bedside table beeped slightly as it reached seven o'clock a large Barn Owl swooped in through the window and landed next to him on the bed. There was the latest copy of the Daily Prophet in its' beak and it was obviously waiting to be paid and relieved of its' burden. Harry quickly rummaged in his trunk and extracted his money and put a few Knuts in the leather pouch. The owl had already left through the window before Harry had even untied the string.

He unrolled the newspaper and started to read. Nothing really caught his eye until he reached the fifth page. There was a picture of a burnt down house which was accompanied with a small article. When Harry had read the first line he felt like someone had thrown ice-cold water over him.

_**Teenage Girl fights to protect her family against Death Eaters.**_

_Seventeen year old Hermione Granger fought against a group of four Death Eaters last night when they forcibly gained entry to her home and attacked her and her family. She was able to raise the alarm and held the Death Eaters off until help arrived. They were apparated to safety and the men and women who arrived to help fought the Death Eaters. However they got away after setting the Grangers house on fire (inset). The Granger family are believed to be treated for minor injuries at St Mungos. There is also an unconfirmed report that a body was removed from the wreckage._

_At first it was thought that Miss Granger had been targeted because she is a muggleborn. However it may also be because she is one of Harry Potters' closest friends. She was also believed to of fought against the Death Eaters when they gained entry to the Ministry of Magic last year as well as Hogwarts last month. _

_Every day we hear of more and more attacks on the wizarding community, however we need to ask ourselves one thing. Why are there children fighting a war that should have ended a long time ago?_

Harry read over the article three times before it sunk in. _"unconfirmed report that a body was removed from the wreckage". _Who was it? The paper said that the "_Granger family_" were at St Mungos, but was that all of them? Was Hermione okay?

Harry grabbed a quill and a pot of ink from the table next to his bed and a piece of parchment that was lying on the floor and hastily scribbled a note to Hermione. It wasn't until he looked up at Hedwigs' cage that he remembered that she had gone hunting last night and hadn't returned yet.

He looked back down at the note. His hands were shaking and the edges of his vision were becoming blurred. 'She has to be alright, she has to be!' Harry thought furiously. It was his fault! If she hadn't been friends with him then she wouldn't have been hurt.

Harry had been so focused on his own thoughts that he hadn't noticed that Hedwig had glided in through his window. He started when she landed on is shoulder, but managed a smile when he realised what it was.

"Hedwig! I have a job for you. Don't look at me like that! Hermione might be hurt. I need to know if she's okay."

Hedwig had glared at him when he had said "job", yet she seemed to soften. It was almost as if she realised what had happened. Without further protest she stuck out her leg for him to tie the letter. As soon as he was finished she swooped out once again, leaving Harry to his thoughts.

XxXxXxX

Later that day Harry was sat at the dining table with the Dursleys eating what Aunt Petunia had called "lunch". In fact, for Harry, it was a plate of carrot sticks.

Harry finished his food and was about to stand up when he heard a crack come from the front of the house. At the sound, the Dursleys looked around confused whilst Harry jumped up and pulled out his wand. He started to head towards the door but was stopped by a fuming Mr Dursley. He had seen Harry take out his wand and was fuming!

"PUT IT AWAY!" Mr Dursley roared, spit hitting Harry in the face. "What do you think you're doing boy?"

Harry ignored and ducked under his arm. He was a few feet from the door when the doorbell was rung. He was still aware of Mr Dursley talking to him, but he blocked him out. He was confused to say the least. His first thought when he had heard the sound, he had thought that it was Death Eaters. Yet, even they weren't stupid enough to ring the doorbell! Where they?

Harry lowered his wand, but didn't put it away. He saw Mrs Dursley go to answer the door and stayed mere feet away. He was therefore shocked when he heard the voice that came from outside.

"Hello, is Harry there please?"

Despite her protest Harry yanked the door out of Mrs Dursleys' hand and stared at the person stood on the doorstep. Relief flooded through him when he saw her. It was Hermione.

XxXxXxX

Harry sat on his bed and listened to Hermione as she told him what had happened at her house.

"…and when I saw the Daily Prophet this morning, I knew that if I didn't let you and Ron know that I was okay then you'd go and storm the hospital or something."

Harry winced at that. Hermione seemed to know him a bit too well.

"Anyway, as you can see. I'm fine"

"But the paper, it said about a body. Who was it?"

Hermione sighed, "One of the Aurors who came to help. I don't know what happened; I'd already been apparated away. From what I can gather they fought the Death Eaters, nearly got them too. But they got away and set my house alight before they went though."

"They got away! Do you know who they were?"

"No, I think they were some of Voldemorts new recruits. By the way that they were talking they were just there to torture muggles. I don't think they realised that there was a witch living there. They didn't recognise me when they saw me. So I don't think that they were sent there for me."

"What? A coincidence that you were living there?"

Hermione shrugged, "I don't know. I just don't"


	2. Since when?

**Disclaimer- I don't own Harry Potter,just those pesky people in my mind:P**

**Chapter Two - Since when?**

As the start of July came and went. Harry was still at the Dursleys, counting down the days like he had done every summer since he started Hogwarts. However this year it was different. He wasn't counting down to the start of term now. He was counting down until he turned seventeen and got to leave the Dursleys once and for all!

Ron and Hermione had decided to come and visit him every now and again. The first time that they arrived still brought a smile to his face when he thought about it. As Ron hadn't passed his Apparation test yet, he had to travel side-along with Hermione. This being her first time travelling with another person it used more energy than just travelling on her own. Therefore she didn't arrive, as at first they had thought, outside the front door. With a loud crack, that caused Mrs Dursley to shriek and drop the pile of plates that she had been carrying, Hermione and Ron appeared in the middle of the kitchen stood on top of the Dining table. Ron seemed to find it extremely amusing that Hermione had done something wrong. She, however, didn't think it was funny at all. With a loud sigh she pulled her foot out the potatoes and sent the most deadly glare she could manage towards a chuckling Ron as she jumped down of the table. She pushed roughly passed Harry, who had to hold onto the doorframe because he was laughing so much and marched up to Harrys' room. It took several more minutes before Ron could gather the breath to send a "Reparo" towards the plates that Mrs Dursley had dropped.

During the lonely times in between Ron and Hermione visiting, Harry spent his time poring over the books that Hermione brought him.

After the fire she and her parents had been staying at the Burrow with the Weasleys. Hermione had been able to convince Mr Weasley to bring her and Ron along when he went to the next Order meeting so that she could look in the Black Library. As he knew Hermiones' thirst for knowledge, Mr Weasley hadn't asked too many questions and all Ron had to do was to pretend that he was being dragged along.

The books in the library, it seemed, were full of so much Dark magic that they put the Restricted section at Hogwarts to shame. It seemed that the Black family were more into the Dark Arts than even Harry could have imagined. The Black family had no problem with Horcruxes, and as Hermione had found, even kept documents of family members who had tried and in some cases succeeded in making Horcruxes. Of the few that were successful however, it seemed that none had managed to either complete the spell or the records showed that they died not long afterwards. Whether it was because of side effects from the spell or because the Horcrux was destroyed it never said.

The books themselves gave Harry a better understanding of what a Horcrux was. Before all he had known was that they were something that a piece of someone's soul was put inside and that it had to be destroyed before they would die. Now however he knew more about how a Horcrux worked. Before an object can be used as a Horcrux, lots of protective spells have to be placed on it. Some to protect the soul, some to bond the soul and some to make them unplotable and untraceable. There was a spell that had to be said with a minute of committing murder that would take a piece of torn soul and transport it, in the shape of a pearl of light and put it into the object. The transaction caused immense pain and there was no way of knowing if the spells had been done correctly until after the deed was done. All of the spells had to be done with twenty-four hours or else they would become reversed and the object would then reject any attempt to place a piece of soul inside it.

Harry knew that this information would come in handy, however he didn't realise yet just how much.

XxXxXxX

Since Ron and Hermione had apparated Ron and herself on to the Dining table, Harry had been trying even harder to avoid the Dursleys. They hadn't been very happy and Mr Dursley had gone to Harrys' room later that day and demanded that there wouldn't be a repeat performance.

As Harry had been avoided them more than usual, he had been able to avoid any tormenting that Dudley would normally have put upon him. However, unfortunately for Harry, this couldn't last forever. In the middle of July Harry had been walking back to his room when he had been stopped by a podgy arm blocking his path. He looked up and saw that it was Dudley.

"What do you want?" Harry asked with a sigh.

"Why aren't you gone yet? It's been weeks and you're still here."

Harry restrained from rolling his eyes.

"Of Course I'm still here. Not got much choice, have I?"

Dudley scrunched up his face, confused. He looked more like a pig than Harry had seen in a while. Harry decided to put him out of his confusion.

"My mother left protection for me when she was murdered. I've got it in my blood and it's there until I turn seventeen. The catch is, I've gotta stay with blood relatives until then for it to work."

That seemed to clear it up for Dudley and Harry decided it was his time to leave. He had brushed past and was walking to his room, when he heard Dudley mutter,

"So that's what the crackpot was saying."

Harry froze. Crackpot? Who did he- "No."

"Take. That. Back." He spoke through gritted teeth. His voice was barely more than a whisper. But Dudley heard him.

He turned around with a smirk on his face.

"Why should I? That's what he is, a crackpot!"

"He was the greatest wizard of our time."

Dudley shuddered at the word "wizard". He glanced around in a way that reminded Harry of Mr Dursley. He glared at Harry and snarled,

"Don't say that!"

"What? Wizards, Witches…Magic?" Harry smirked. He loved to wind up Dudley any chance he got. He reasoned that after all that Dudley had done over the years, this was nothing. "They're only words Dudderkins."

"Go say them somewhere else. Go say them to that crackpot friend of yours."

Harry felt himself pale, despite his efforts. They were back on this subject again. "Just shut up Dudley." And without another word he turned on his heel and went back to his room.

XxXxXxX

For the next few days Harry had to try to avoid Dudley more than he had before. The glint in his eyes showed that he knew that there was something wrong, that Harry was hurting. More than once Dudley had watched Harry as he entered a room, ate his food and he was still watching as he left again. It was almost possible to here the cogs turning inside Dudleys head, almost Slytherin like, Harry thought.

It wasn't for another four days that Dudley finally caught up with Harry, as he was sitting on the garden bench.

"You said was."

To say that Harry was puzzled was an understatement.

"What are you talking about?"

"The other day, you said that the crackpot 'was' the greatest… thingy of our time."

"I also told you not to call him that." Harry said as he stood up to leave. He didn't want to talk about Dumbledore, especially with someone who didn't care in the slightest about the Professor.

"He's dead, isn't he?"

Harry stopped, and turned back around. One look at Dudleys' face showed him that he wasn't being taunted. It showed him that his cousin was merely curious about a world that he would never belong to.

Harry paused before answering, he knew that when he did, Dudley would want to know more.

"Yeah, he was murdered last month."

Dudley sat down, and looked up at Harry like he never ad before. He wasn't looking at him like Harry was beneath him or like he was waiting for him to get up so that he could punch him back down again. What Harry saw now surprised him, Dudley was looking at him like an equal.

"You say it like it happens every day."

When Harry didn't reply, Dudley looked shocked. "It does, doesn't it? Murders?"

Harry sat down on the bench next to Dudley and stared at his hands. "How much do you know about my world?"

"Honestly, not much. You said something about a war summer before last, but I was a bit too out of it to take anything in. Is that why that guy was killed?"

Harry noticed that Dudley had stopped calling Dumbledore 'Crackpot' and he was grateful for the gesture. Maybe there was hope for him yet. Of course Dudley wouldn't remember what happened. That summer had been when the Dementors had attacked him. He had been pretty out of it then, Harry still cringed when he remembered just how heavy Dudley had been to carry back to Privet Drive.

"Yeah, he was killed by someone from the other side."

Harry didn't know what to tell Dudley. All his life the boy sat next to him had been the person that made Harry's' life a living hell. Yet here he was sat next to him on a garden bench, talking to him like a civilised human being. Should he trust him, or run like hell n the opposite direction.

"Listen, I'll be honest with you. I don't know why you're suddenly talking to me. But don't think that we're suddenly friends, too much has happened. A lot of it was your fault. I've gotta send some letters, see you"

With that Harry stood up and left, heading back to the house. He didn't know what to make of what just happened. Since when was Dudley… well, not Dudley?

**Sorry but i've always thought that Dudley only hated Harry because that was what his parents thought. They're not going to become best friends, just acquaintances :D**

**Happy reading! Please review :)**

**Luv Stellie! xxx**


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